Purdue Research Foundation and Archaeological Legacy Institute to embark on expedition to identify Amelia Earhart’s missing plane

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., July 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On the 88th anniversary of her mysterious disappearance, Purdue Research Foundation (PRF) and Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) announced a remarkable joint effort to locate Amelia Earhart’s lost aircraft and help complete the heroic journey she began almost a century ago. The search, named the Taraia Object Expedition, will begin when a field team organized by ALI visits, by sea, the Pacific island Nikumaroro in November 2025 to confirm whether a visual anomaly known as the Taraia Object, seen in satellite and other imagery in the island’s lagoon, is what remains of Earhart’s plane. Nikumaroro is approximately halfway between Australia and Hawaii.

“What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case,” said Richard Pettigrew, ALI’s executive director. “With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof. I look forward to collaborating with Purdue Research Foundation in writing the final chapter in Amelia Earhart’s remarkable life story.”

Earhart worked for Purdue University after Purdue President Edward Elliott became concerned that the women enrolled at the university were not completing their educations. He hired Earhart to live in the new women’s residence hall for a few weeks of the semester, serve as a counselor on careers for women, advise Purdue’s aeronautical engineering department and enjoy access to the resources of Purdue’s new airport — the only one, at that time, at a U.S. college or university.

“About nine decades ago, Amelia Earhart was recruited to Purdue, and the university president later worked with her to prepare an aircraft for her historic flight around the world,” said Purdue President Mung Chiang. “Today, as a team of experts try again to locate the plane, the Boilermaker spirit of exploration lives on.”

As part of Purdue University’s pioneering efforts in aeronautical research, PRF funded the “flying laboratory” Lockheed Electra 10E airplane through the Amelia Earhart Fund for Aeronautical Research. Purdue trustee and benefactor David Ross gave money, and further donations were received from J. K. Lilly; Vincent Bendix; and the Western Electric, Goodrich and Goodyear companies. Earhart used the plane, which was specifically outfitted for long-distance flights, in her attempt to circumnavigate the globe and set a record for the longest-distance flight.

"Purdue Research Foundation began its commitment to Earhart’s aeronautical explorations in 1935," said PRF president and CEO Chad Pittman. "By embarking on this joint partnership with ALI, we hope to come full circle on our support of Earhart’s innovative spirit, solve one of history’s biggest mysteries, and inspire future generations of aviators, adventurers, innovators and Boilermakers.

In recognition of PRF’s contribution, Earhart intended to give the plane to Purdue upon her return, where it would be used to further scientific research in aeronautics. Although she never returned, the Purdue-Earhart connection remains strong. Honoring her legacy as a valued faculty member, she’s remembered across campus through facilities, programs, and clubs. Additionally, in 2024 construction began on the approximately 10,000-square-foot Amelia Earhart Terminal at Purdue University Airport that has resumed commercial passenger services to the country’s first university airport.

“Both Earhart and her husband and manager, George Putnam, expressed their intention to return the Electra to Purdue after her historic flight,” said Steven Schultz, senior vice president and general counsel of Purdue University. “Based on the evidence, we agree with ALI that this expedition offers the best chance not only to solve perhaps the greatest mystery of the 20th century, but also to fulfill Amelia’s wishes and bring the Electra home.”

The Electra, which disappeared on July 2, 1937, has never been recovered, but a vast amount of circumstantial evidence has been amassed, largely by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery over nearly 40 years, supporting the Nikumaroro hypothesis. This idea posits that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, did not crash at sea but instead landed and were marooned on an uninhabited island and subsequently perished there.

The hypothesis, as updated by ALI with new evidence for the Taraia Object, is based on documentary records, photographs and satellite images, physical evidence, and personal testimony, including these highlights:

• Radio bearings recorded from radio transmissions at the time by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and Pan American World Airways, which converge on Nikumaroro
• A 2017 analysis of human bones discovered on the island in 1940, which determined Earhart’s bone lengths were more similar to the discovered bones than 99% of individuals, strongly supporting the conclusion they belong to Earhart
• Artifacts including a woman’s shoe, a compact case, a freckle cream jar and a medicine vial — all dating to the 1930s
• The Bevington Object, a photographic anomaly captured just three months after the plane’s disappearance, which appears to represent one of the Electra landing gear on the Nikumaroro reef
• The Taraia Object, located in 2020, which has been in the same place in the lagoon since 1938

The expedition is planned to embark from Majuro in the Marshall Islands on Nov. 5, spend five days on Nikumaroro inspecting the Taraia Object, and return to port on Nov. 21. ALI plans to post project updates, beginning soon, on its subscription video platform, Heritage Broadcasting Service. If the initial expedition proves successful in confirming the identity of the aircraft, PRF and ALI plan to return for larger excavation efforts in 2026 to uncover and help return what remains of Earhart’s plane.

Join the mission: https://amelia.prf.org/

About Purdue Research Foundation

Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Established in 1930, the foundation accepts gifts; administers trusts; funds scholarships and grants; acquires and sells property; protects and licenses Purdue’s intellectual property; and supports creating Purdue-connected startups on behalf of Purdue. The foundation operates Purdue Innovates, which includes the Office of Technology Commercialization and Incubator. The foundation manages Purdue Strategic Ventures, Purdue Research Park, Discovery Park District, Purdue Technology Centers and Purdue for Life Foundation. 

About Archaeological Legacy Institute

Archaeological Legacy Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Eugene, Oregon, and organized to share the human cultural heritage widely through the use of cutting-edge media technology. ALI’s core project is The Archaeology Channel (http://www.archaeologychannel.org), a free streaming-media website featuring video and audio programs on archaeology, indigenous peoples and cultural heritage. This combines with news site Archaeologica.org, the social media site ArchaeoSeek.com, and subscription video-on-demand platform Heritage Broadcasting Service (heritagetac.org) to form a unique constellation of online services and resources for those keen to learn about and enjoy cultural-heritage information, events, programming, and discussions. Through TAC Tours, ALI also organizes in-person group visits to significant cultural heritage sites worldwide, which have included Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, Newgrange, Persepolis, Carnac, the Ness of Brodgar, the Malta prehistoric temples, and many others.

Note to journalists: Additional photo and video related to this story are available in the media kit.

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• Amelia Earhart on the nose of her Lockheed Electra, March 12, 1937

Alicia South-Hurt Purdue Research Foundation absouth-hurt@prf.org